GAA players more likely to suffer from hip osteoarthritis in later life – study

An examination of former elite Gaelic footballers and hurlers has raised concerns at the prevalence of hip and groin pain suffered by those playing in more modern times compared to players in the 1970s and 1980s.

The authors of the report, in this month’s Irish Medical Journal, argue that elite athletes are up to four times more likely than the normal population to suffer from hip osteoarthritis in later life.

Corresponding author Dr Brian O'Mahony of University College Cork examined the differences in hip and groin injury, incidence of surgery and hip and groin outcome scores between elite GAA players of different eras with varying intercounty career durations.

Hip and groin injuries have been shown to be the third most common injury suffered by GAA players. However, the authors state how those results may actually be underestimated because players are often able to train and play matches, despite having symptoms.

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This can cause a decreased range of movement which leads to increased stress of the groin area leading to dysfunction and injury.

The authors surveyed 372 former players, who were members of the squads from the 1976, 1986, 1996 and 2006 hurling and football All-Ireland Finals, to determine how many had suffered from hip and groin injuries and to find out what the likely causes may be.

The authors said the results were “startling”, with the questionnaire finding that players who played in more recent times and had earlier exposure to intense inter-county training sessions, “were more likely to suffer from a groin injury, and undergo a groin surgery during their playing career”.

The questionnaire also found that those who debuted at inter-county level at a younger age also had “worse hip problems post-retirement”.

The authors acknowledge that due to the small cohort of players studied, further research is needed and that study “can explore these differences in larger cohorts and identify causative factors which can be targeted to reduce the injury burden after elite GAA careers”.